Tag: Dan Henderson

So, yeah, wasn’t expecting that fight to go that way. Dan Henderson once again proved the adage that power is the last thing to leave an older fighter. Henderson nearly flat lined Michael Bisping a number of times during their UFC 204 main event showdown. While most media outlets and MMA pundits didn’t give Henderson a snowball’s chance, me included, the veteran proved that the power in his right hand has the ability to make the impossible possible. Though Bisping showed heart and performed well in the last few rounds of the bout, is there a case to say that Dan Henderson actually won the fight?

If you told me this time last year that Michael Bisping would be the UFC middleweight champion in 2016 I would have laughed in your face. Not that I thought Bisping was unskilled or not capable, simply that the odds weren’t in his favor. If you had said Dan Henderson would be contending for that same middleweight title in the same stretch of time I would have calmly taken a step back and, once at a safe enough distance, asked if you were off your meds. But that’s the beauty of MMA. There’s no script, nothing that is set in stone.

Fact: The single greatest moment in the history of MMA was captured in the above image, on the night of July 11, 2009 at UFC 100. It came approximately three minutes and eighteen seconds into the second round of a fight between Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping, and as luck would have it, so did nearly every red-blooded American who happened to be witnessing it.

A little backstory. You see, prior to this orgasm-inducing moment, Henderson and Bisping had been engaged in a war of words while coaching opposing teams as part of the ninth season of The Ultimate Fighter. And by war of the words, I mean that Bisping spent the majority of the show talking trash, while Hendo opted to just kind of stand around silently while counting down the moments until he would lay a whoopin’ on this arrogant Brit’s ass. When the two finally met in the octagon, well, you know what happened.

Last weekend at UFC 199, both Henderson and Bisping picked up huge, incredibly violent wins over Hector Lombard and Luke Rockhold, respectively. But with the former nearing 50 and the latter suddenly finding himself the middleweight champion, rumblings have once pop up around the web of a potential rematch between the two.

“If…you believe the son of God came down to earth 2,000 years ago, and he killed himself for our sins, and he can walk on water…if you can believe that, then you can believe that I can knock the f–k out of Luke Rockhold two weeks from Saturday.”

When Michael Bisping first uttered these words to Luke Thomas after being called up on two weeks notice to face rival Luke Rockhold at UFC 199, they actually made a lot of sense. Surely, we were just as likely to see a man walk on water as we were to see Michael Bisping defeat a man who had absolutely obliterated him less than two years ago in their first meeting. And until very recently, I’d sooner commit the ultimate sin than see Bisping, a man whose assholerywehavemockedforyears, claim the middleweight title from anyone.

With most of the middleweight division already tied up, Henderson’s options for a short-notice brain cell removal artist were extremely limited. Thankfully, the UFC went and found Hendo an opponent who not only tested positive for banned substances in recent history, but could knock more than a few brain cells loose if he so desired: Hector Lombard. It’s a win-win for everyone!

Before we even get started, we here at CagePotato wanted to first congratulate your promotion on an absolutely stellar night of fights this weekend. On paper, Fight Night 77 looked as if it would be one of the best FN cards in the UFC’s history, and we’re happy to admit that it largely exceeded our already heightened expectations from top-to-bottom. A credit is due to both Sean Shelby and Joe Silva for their continuously amazing efforts.

Now that we’ve sucked you off enough to possibly earn our credentials back, we feel the need to raise our concerns about what has become an increasingly discouraging aspect of both your Fight Night and pay-per-view cards: The pacing.

Summer is winding down, which means we’re in the latter stages of 2015. It also means football season is finally here. But do you know what else it means? There’s still a whole slew of mixed martial arts fights that we have to look forward to, so with that in mind, here are the top 10 fights that you, Potato Nation, should check out or – at the very least – set your DVR to as we wind down the year:

You see that, right there? That’s why you never, EVER come at Dan Henderson with your hands down and your chin sticking straight up in the air. Given the H-Bomb’s now legendary status in our fine sport, you’d think that 27-fight veteran Tim Boetsch would have understood that simple fact prior to his first ever main event slot against Hendo at Fight Night 68 last weekend. And maybe he did, or maybe Boetsch was *so* confident in his chin that he figured there’d be no way an aging one-trick pony like Henderson would even be able to catch him. In either case, he was wrong and paid dearly for it.

There’s really not much to take away from the main event of Fight Night NOLA, other than that Hendo’s emphatic win will likely set him up to be slaughtered by a much younger, quicker middleweight in his next fight –which, hooray for that. But the small nugget of wisdom we were able to mine from Boetsch vs. Hendo was a lesson as old as…well, Dan Henderson: He knocked out Fedor. Fedor.

But Hendo vs. Boetsch wasn’t the only highlight worthy moment from Fight Night NOLA. With a record-tying 7 first round finishes (and 10 finishes overall) and a Sweet Chin Music knockout to name a couple memorable moments, last Saturday’s card will surely go down as one of the best — if not *the* best — of the year. So join us after the jump for a full breakdown of the event, with highlights courtesy of UFC on FOX.

You see, Ryan Bader was all set to face Daniel Cormier in the main event of Fight Night 68 (aka Fight Night NOLA) in June. It was a fight that “Darth” would have not only won without breaking a sweat, but one that would have made him the light heavyweight division’s clear #1 contender and set up a rematch with Jones, which again, is a fight he would have come out from practically unscathed. LALALALALA CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!!

But now thanks to Bones’ inability to call an Uber, Bader’s originally scheduled opponent for Fight Night 68 has been scooped up to face Anthony Johnson for the now vacant title at UFC 187. Bader, on the other hand, has been scratched from Fight Night 68 altogether. I can think of no greater injustice in recent memory that even compares to the situation poor, poor Ryan Bader has put in. Other than, you know, the pregnant woman whose vehicle was struck by a famous mixed martial artist…who then proceeded to flee with no regard for her well-being.

The UFC showcase on FOX returns tonight for its 14th installment, featuring a huge light heavyweight title eliminator on deck. Alexander Gustafsson will be looking to book his rematch against Jon Jones, as he dukes it out against rising contender Anthony Johnson in the five-round main event inside Tele2 Arena in Stockholm, Sweden. The winner of this bout will most likely square off against the champion later this year.